Mary Washington House

George Washington purchased this frame house for his mother from Michael Robinson in 1772. Mary Ball Washington lived here until her death at age 82 in 1789. The house is open daily. Mary Ball Washington moved here from Ferry Farm to be near her daughter Betty Lewis and her son Charles Washington. George Washington enlarged the dwelling with a wing, and in the 19th century subsequent owners added other improvements. In 1890, to keep the building from being moved to Chicago for the World’s Columbian Exposition, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities bought and later restored it.